Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

RuthAnne Visnauskas

RuthAnne Visnauskas

  • Max Politics Podcast: Top City & State Housing Officials on the NYS Budget Impasse & What Comes Next

    Ground-breaking (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    May 19, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: Top City & State Housing Officials on the NYS Budget Impasse and What Comes Next, with Jessica Katz & RuthAnne Visnauskas

    At the annual NYSAFAH affordable housing conference in Manhattan, Max Politics host Ben Max of Gotham Gazette moderated a discussion with New York City Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz and New York State Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas about the state budget failure on housing and what comes next at the state and city levels.

    Listen to the

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  • The High Stakes of Hochul's Housing Compact

    Gov. Hochul talks housing (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    Governor Kathy Hochul is attempting a major course correction in New York’s approach to housing creation in this year’s state budget and the stakes couldn’t be higher. For the governor, weakened after a tighter-than-expected election that won her a first full-term, it could be a major legacy-making achievement even if its effects aren’t felt immediately. And for New Yorkers, it could be the first meaningful step towards truly easing the state’s acute housing shortage and reducing the atmospheric cost of housing in the

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  • Max Politics Podcast: Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas on Governor Hochul's 'New York Housing Compact'

    NYS Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)


    March 29, 2023 - Max Politics Podcast: Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas on Governor Hochul's 'New York Housing Compact'

    New York State Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas joined the show to discuss Governor Kathy Hochul's New York Housing Compact proposal, negotiations with the Legislature, meetings around the state to discuss the plan, and more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can

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  • Officials, Advocates Analyze Implications of Hochul's 'Housing Compact' on New York City

    Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams & others at ground-breaking (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    Last month, in herState of the State address, Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a “Housing Compact” to build 800,000 units of housing across the state over the next ten years. It is an ambitious plan that aims to tackle the state’s dire housing shortage by leveraging private

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  • How to Break Barriers to Build More Housing in New York? Experts Point to Changes

    A ground-breaking (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New York City has an acute housing shortage, with emergency-level lows in apartment vacancies, especially for units affordable to most New Yorkers, and astronomical rents, a homelessness crisis, and halting recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    At the core of the city’s housing supply deficit is a lengthy and cumbersome land use decision-making process, a bureaucratic maze of local and state regulations combined with political dynamics that have often

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